onkyo overheating...

ibewbrother

Alright....

After a period of music listening...the 807 was almost too hot to touch. 6 inches headroom....the M-5150 was barely warm....

Do I need to install an extra fan?

Any thoughts appreciated...as always

.....Brother

ibewbrother

more power?....use the 807 as power for height channels and buy another power amp?

Kex

Those Onkyo receivers are known to get hot. Wait for a while and see if any of the owners here think you should worry about it engaging protection mode or not. Those speakers in your signature are very easy to drive, and I would expect 99.9% of receivers on the market to drive those adequately without issue.

Are you pushing the volume selector close to maximum, and have you calibrated your system to begin with?

lanchile

ibewbrother wrote: »

more power?....use the 807 as power for height channels and buy another power amp?

Well, if you use 8ohm speakers and spl above 90db you will not need to push your amp too hard but, some amps run really hot (The worse enemy for amps reliability is heat) long time ago I had a Sony ES amp (crab) and it got so hot I could cook an egg on top of it, luckily I sold it!. Now I do not suffer that anymore. I build my own diy amp and if I push it to the limits, it gets just warm to the touch.Beside I "choose" the quality of the parts that I use. Now I am Happy as a clam!!!;)

F1nut

Any man amp worth a damn gets HOT! AVR's not included.

lanchile

BlueFox wrote: »

Smell likes teen spirit, or a TROLL.

Not at all I just turned to 40 lol! I have had so many amps just to name some:
Adcom 510, GFA 5500,Marantz 2252B, 2238B, Portal Panache, Acurus DIA 100,Luxman R117,Bryston B60,Bryston 4B, Sony ES series, Blue circle,McIntosh,Sanyo plus series 55 and the preamp.Denon AVR5800.Maybe for many people here these amps and receivers are excellent and I agree but, to me there was always something I did not like, either it was the sound(fatiguing) or the way it was build (poor quality parts). That was when I decided to jump into DIY and build my own amp. and by the way some of the above amps get really hot too.:cool:

kuntasensei

I've heard of people adding fans because of heat on the Onkyos... but I don't really think it's a problem. If you look at the layout of the heatsink and fans, they're basically blowing straight up, which naturally would mean the top grill is going to get some heat. My thought on this is that if the heat is getting transferred to the top grill, then the heatsink is doing its job of pulling the heat off the amp section and the fans are doing their job of exhausting out the top.

My 1007 gets fairly hot after some serious use, but never enough that I think I need an extra fan, and I don't think I even have 6" space above mine. I'm running 9.2 with heights.

cnoat

I push my onkyo pretty hard at times.It does get pretty hot,but i have never had a problem with shut down or anything of that nature.

Slinger182

I've had my onkyo for 2 years and it has always ran hot but never had a problem. I picked up a fan just for piece of mind.

http://www.coolerguys.com/ccstandk.html

Erik Tracy

Isn't the real heat source the video processor in most AVRs?

I ran my yammy in pure direct alot for music listening and it never got as warm as when I'm watching movies.

steveinaz

Try to give it at least 9" of clearance over head, and if side ventilated, 4" minimum on each side. My Parasound HCA gets quite hot, and lets me know right away (by shutting down) when it doesn't have the clearance it needs.

cnh

Onkyos are TOASTERS....supposedly they are 'designed' to handle that heat. All of them get HOT. I've owned three over the years from the 600 series to my current 805. They get hot even when you're not pushing them. But I've never had any problems because of this heat. I keep more than 6" of space above mine. Reviews have clocked Onkyo heat up to 136 degrees.

The greatest heat is usually directly over the video board on the right back side of most units older than XX6 models. Even when there IS NO video processing going on.

I don't think there is anything wrong with getting a fan like Sal recommends above. I am going to get one for mine when I return..not because I'm worried about the amp failing but I'm concerned about the heat frying my HDMI ins and outs and the circuitry involved there. I really don't think the heat will bother anything else. My 805 is usually too hot to touch after about an hour of operation. Another factor is the room temp. In the winter if you keep your room in the mid-60s the Onkyo will be a bit less hot.

That said, NO Onkyo I have ever owned has ever gone into the protection mode.

So yes, heat is NORMAL...and fans are 'never' a bad idea!

cnh

steveinaz

If you go with a fan, have draw the hot air out, rather than blowing in. This will cause an airflow across your heatsinks, making them more efficient. Having air "push down" on hot components forces heat toward the circuit board end of the heat sinks, rather than exhausting the heat out.

Jetmaker737

My 805 never gets beyond the "warm to the touch" level of heat.

cnh

Jetmaker737 wrote: »

My 805 never gets beyond the "warm to the touch" level of heat.

Are you running the amp section or just using the Aragon power amp to drive a 2 channel LSI System? In that case the Onkyo is just idling--why should it get hot?

cnh

ibewbrother

Thanks for all of the input....it hasn't shut down at all..but i don't really know if i'm pushing it too hard because of the volume indicator in the display....I don't know where MAX is.....lol I try not to get above 0.0db The 5150 is on the fronts so it's only driving center, surrounds, and heights. I'm doing my music on an Onkyo UP-A1 I-pod dock, so the video circuitry is engaged. I could get a small 120vac fan pretty easy.. but I can't figure out how to control it exactly.......


.....Brother

btw... it is hottest right over the volume knob in the front

Kex

ibewbrother wrote: »

...it hasn't shut down at all..but i don't really know if i'm pushing it too hard because of the volume indicator in the display....I don't know where MAX is.....lol I try not to get above 0.0db ...

If you have calibrated it correctly, either using the automated system included, or manually with a SPL meter, or a bit of both, then most AVR's (if not all, but I don't know, so I'm not stating it) will use 0dB as "reference" level: usually quite loud for movies and also very satisfying IMHO.

To figure it out, you can turn on your AVR but make sure nothing is playing, and then simply turn the knob up all the way until the numbers stop moving. Every brand has it's own philosophy, but frequently it will start around -80dB or similar (it's not important, since it's basicaly inaudible anyway at that point), go all the way up to -20 and -10dB (which is where a lot of people listen), and further up to 0dB. This is reference level, and very loud for music usually. It may even be too loud for movies for many, but it's a personal preference issue. Beyond that, the scale will progress to +8dB, or maybe +18dB, or whatever. If you are beyond 0dB, you are starting to push things hard on most AVR's, so beware at that point, and listen for signs of distortion.

It's common sense, really, but reference level is calibrated using C-weighting on a SPL meter to 85dB(C). During playback, after calibration (and in an ideal world) 0dB on the AVR display should equate to 85dB(A) (since C-weighting is used for calibration, but A-weighting is used to measure sound levels for the listener). Anything beyond 90dB(A) is basically risking hearing damage which can NEVER be reversed. The louder it is, the more quickly the damage will occur. Short bursts of explosions that exceed 90dB(A) are not something I would worry about.

comfortablycurt

You need to get some more ventilation around your Onkyo. 6" above isn't anything. How much clearance is there on the sides? A completely open air rack would be ideal. Onkyo's get HOT.

comfortablycurt

xcapri79 wrote: »

Like I said, the best solution is to sell the Onkyo's and join the ICE Club.;)
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81406&highlight=ICE%2A

I wouldn't call that the best solution.

A possible solution, yes, but best?

Onkyo's are damn fine AVR's. Yes, they run hot, but that's just part of their design...and they need to be accommodated with that in mind.

cnoat

Your ref point is 0.0 This is how loud you can push it without distortion.

comfortablycurt

xcapri79 wrote: »

Of course it is best. One day those energy wasting Onkyo's will be subject to a large carbon footprint tax.:eek:

We all need to work on saving our planet, one Onkyo at a time.;)

Umm....If you're using that logic in this hobby, then you need to find a different hobby.


Should we all listen to music on ipods/earbuds, because it uses less energy?:rolleyes:

leroyjr1

Had a Onkyo 805 and that sucker got hot. Even after adding an external amp it still ran hot. Adding fans really cooled it down.

kuntasensei

cnoat wrote: »

Your ref point is 0.0 This is how loud you can push it without distortion.

Uh... no. That's just reference level (i.e. 105dB dB max in the main channels, 115dB max in the LFE channel). How loud you can push it without distortion is a crapshoot, because it depends on speaker efficiency, available headroom, room size, etc.

comfortablycurt

cnoat wrote: »

Your ref point is 0.0 This is how loud you can push it without distortion.

That is completely wrong. The point at which you attain distortion is completely dependent on the speakers, amplifier, room, material and a number of other factors.


They say that a little bit if disinformation can be worse than no information. No offense intended, but you seem to spout off "facts and statistics" quite frequently that you really don't seem to know much about.

No offense...just trying to help some people from getting bad info.:)

leroyjr1

Went to Radio Shack and bought this 110volt 4" fan. You have add you own plug to it.
Cost about $25 and they also have the smaller 3" version all metal.

leroyjr1

Xcapri79


In a dead quiet room you can hear it but once the music or movie starts not at all.

ibewbrother

Right now I'm thinking of installing a 120vac fan on a 100degree switch...all homemade of course...I happen to have a nice industrial source. It hasn't cut off....I'm running it pretty hard right now. The 20 something year old 5150 hasn't broken a sweat...........

anhchungdoan

Try this one and your Onkyo will be cool as a cucumber.

F1nut

Ugh....if it needs a fan, I want no parts of it.

comfortablycurt

F1nut wrote: »

Ugh....if it needs a fan, I want no parts of it.

+1


That's the one thing that's probably going to keep me from buying another Onk when I get back into HT. Onkyo makes some damn fine HT receivers...but they run REALLY hot. Ideally, they should be on a completely open air rack, with at least 9-10" of clearance above...if not completely open above.

kuntasensei

Yeah, I don't see the problem. I'm running my 1007 with maybe 4" of clearance at the top, and it doesn't get hot enough for me to worry. Their cooling seems to be perfectly sufficient. I watched X-Men 3 today on Blu-ray at -12 from reference, and the 1007 was warm to the touch afterward, but no more so than I'd expect.